{"id":816,"date":"2026-06-30T17:46:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/?p=816"},"modified":"2026-06-30T17:48:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T17:48:40","slug":"new-ahpc-study-highlights-widespread-client-aggression-toward-veterinarians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/new-ahpc-study-highlights-widespread-client-aggression-toward-veterinarians\/","title":{"rendered":"New AHPC Study Highlights Widespread Client Aggression Toward Veterinarians"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/avmajournals.avma.org\/view\/journals\/ajvr\/aop\/ajvr.26.03.0121\/ajvr.26.03.0121.xml\">A new study<\/a> published in the American Journal of Veterinary Research by AHPC Co- Director <strong>Lori Kogan, PhD<\/strong>, and collaborator <strong>Mark Rishniw, PhD<\/strong>, reveals that client- perpetrated aggression is a near-universal occupational experience among veterinarians, with substantial psychological and professional consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Surveying <strong>1,125 veterinarians<\/strong>, the study found that <strong>99% <\/strong>had experienced verbal abuse from clients, <strong>38% <\/strong>had been physically threatened, 12% had experienced client stalking, and 4% had been physically harmed. These experiences were associated with intrusive thoughts, sleep disturbances, anxiety, hypervigilance, and emotional exhaustion, with more than one-third of respondents reporting they had considered<br>leaving the profession because of client verbal abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>The study also identified important gaps in workplace support. Fewer than half of respondents reported having clear workplace policies for managing client aggression or formal reporting systems, and 57% had never received de-escalation training. Respondents consistently identified stronger workplace policies, improved communication training, leadership support, and better access to mental health<br>resources as priorities for the profession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>The findings underscore that client aggression is not simply an individual workplace challenge but a profession-wide issue requiring coordinated organizational, educational, and policy responses to better protect veterinary teams.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Citation<\/strong><br>Kogan, L. R., &amp; Rishniw, M. (2026). Client-perpetrated aggression in veterinary practice:<br>Prevalence, psychological impact, and institutional response. American Journal of<br>Veterinary Research. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2460\/ajvr.26.03.0121\">https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2460\/ajvr.26.03.0121<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new study published in the American Journal of Veterinary Research by AHPC Co- Director Lori Kogan, PhD, and collaborator Mark Rishniw, PhD, reveals that client- perpetrated aggression is a near-universal occupational experience among veterinarians, with substantial psychological and professional consequences. Surveying 1,125 veterinarians, the study found that 99% had experienced verbal abuse from clients,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":174,"featured_media":430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-projects","tag-companion-animal-welfare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/174"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":819,"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions\/819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.warnercnr.colostate.edu\/animalhumanpolicy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}